Missouri Smallmouth Alliance Meeting

[Chief Grey Bear]

Haha.....

darn Chief!! This means I have no chance if a nice guy like yourself is questioned. Oh Well........

Yeah, I don't understand this one bit!

Well Chief you are and outspoken man and I am sure you ideas will be heard and discussed and either your opinion changed or the main chapter gets changed or we compromise on it.

Outspoken??? Well I guess you could have worse. But in reality, though I have a couple on this forum dogging me for my comments, I feel that if there weren't people expressing opinions, weather critical or constructive, it would be the same ol', same ol', herd mentality. Without such disscussion it would be very hard to move forward and grow.

Chief:

I obviously recommend joining. Join and see how you like it. I'm sure you won't always see eye to eye with everyone else but so what? If we are all working together to address issues like access, water quality, land use, regs, etc. we can agree to disagree if it means that we're still accomplishing something worthwhile for the resource.

Dang it, I am about to go against everything I told myself and pull the trigger on this thing. Keep doing what you are doin cause you are about to wear me down.

[Gary Lange]

I hate to admit it Chief but I am a lot more like you then you think I may be. I butted heads with the ISA many times while I was in the inner circle so I had some strong opinions. I have calmed down since retiring and tend to let things slide more now I find it keeps my blood pressure down and I sleep better. Personally I think the MSA needs you as a member because of the way you are. I think the ISA needs some new blood.

[smallmouthjoe]

"Outspoken??? Well I guess you could have worse. But in reality, though I have a couple on this forum dogging me for my comments, I feel that if there weren't people expressing opinions, weather critical or constructive, it would be the same ol', same ol', herd mentality. Without such disscussion it would be very hard to move forward and grow" (Chief, 2010).

This is why I like you Chief and why I think your a valuable asset to this forum. Stand up and be counted, even if your the only one standing up.

[KCRIVERRAT]

Chief, and anybody else who is questioning the reasons for joining...

Consider this. There are going to be other issues (in fact, there already are) affecting stream smallmouth fishing in Missouri. Some are threats to the resource, others are threats to our ability to use the resource. For instance, since my wife had a meeting outside Marshfield on Saturday, we stayed in Marshfield Friday night. After dropping her off at her meeting, I took back roads toward Springfield and the meeting, and visited every bridge crossing on the upper James above Springfield. Did you know that almost every bridge crossing is unusable as an access these days? Even the bridge that is the "head of navigation" in the MDC float stream book is now closed to access, with cables across all approaches to the water and "no parking" signs everywhere. And there is apparently a rich landowner along the river who has succeeded in closing off his section of the river to all users. Guys, this is a problem, and it's a problem that is only going to get worse and scares the heck out of me. Collusion between influential landowners and county officials could very well spell doom for access to many streams in this state. Sooner of later we're going to have to fight this battle.

Now consider this...what other organization is there that is an advocate for stream smallmouth fishing in this state--and not as only one small part of a lot of other issues? None.

It takes a concerted effort to fight major conservation battles. Individuals alone just don't get it done. It takes organization. The MSA is the only organization right now that can fill the bill. Maybe it hasn't been as strong or as successful as it could be, but it certainly has a good reputation with MDC.

You may not agree with everything we are doing. In fact, at least one member of our blue ribbon panel doesn't agree with all our strategy for improving smallmouth fishing. Doesn't mean he isn't a valued member, and he has certainly given us food for thought and caused us to question our beliefs and outlook.

But starting a new SWMO chapter is a perfect opportunity for you to make your own thoughts and beliefs known, and maybe even shape the chapter the way you think it should be. Standing on the sidelines and either cheering or booing just ain't gonna get much of anything done, either for what you think the MSA should be or for our fisheries and fishing opportunities. The least you can do to start to make a difference is to join, so that you'll be one of the anglers represented by the organization. Even better would be to actually roll up your sleeves and do some work within the organization.

By the way, our proposals seemed to be well-received at the meeting on Monday. I am hopeful that MDC is going to be making some changes in regs and special management areas in the next few years. Whether the changes will reflect our proposals or not, it's far too soon to tell.

Al, let me say first of all, I'm naive to the way things work between the MDC and our state or federal governments (I'm sure there'll be someone who knows exactly how it works and chime in Maybe Jay Nixon.

Anyway... seems like the MDC needs to update their float stream book.

And to you rich landowners... you ain't worth a response.

Finally, to my fellow MSA members... here's hoping for some deep pockets (unfortunately).

[Flysmallie]

A couple of the accesses that Al is talking about were not closed by rich property owners. It was done because of the amount of partying that went on in these locations. It was definitely not some place that you would take a kid or leave your vehicle.

You can still access the river at most of these locations, you just can't leave a vehicle there now. Not that you really wanted to in the past. A buddy and I floated a section last year, his wife was dropping us off. A Sheriff deputy stopped to see what we were doing but never tried to stop us at any point.

[ness]

Outspoken??? Well I guess you could have worse. But in reality, though I have a couple on this forum dogging me for my comments, I feel that if there weren't people expressing opinions, weather critical or constructive, it would be the same ol', same ol', herd mentality. Without such disscussion it would be very hard to move forward and grow.

Chief: I'm only dogging you to try and keep things a little more positive overall. Your comments on MSA have tended to dismiss the work they're doing, or make it sound like they've got to prove something. Like I tell my babies: there's always more than one way to say something. As an example:

1) I've looked at MSA's website, and I don't see anything to make me want to join, or

2) Can somebody from MSA tell me a little more about what you're doing -- I might want to join.

And, sometimes it's just best to not say anything at all.

Anyhow -- lecture over.

We've still got a fishing date for this spring, right?